Group Studies Health Impacts Of Uranium Mining

Residents of McKinley County in northwestern New Mexico have long complained of health problems associated with uranium mining. A new study looks at the health impacts the uranium mining industry may have caused there.

Nearly 100 of the 520 abandoned uranium mines on Navajo land are in McKinley County. That area is also home to the decades-old Church Rock Tailings Spill, one of the worst radioactive disasters in American history.

The study, which was funded by the Santa Fe Community Foundation and the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership, found McKinley County residents have higher rates of certain cancers than the rest of New Mexico, and that cancer rates are especially high among Native American populations. It also suggests living near uranium mines can lead to heart and kidney disease, and immune system dysfunction.

McKinley County commissioners have supported further uranium mining, but researchers for the health impact assessment are calling for a moratorium on future mining as a first step towards improving the health situation there.

On Thursday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be hosting a public meeting about a proposed uranium deconversion plant near Hobbs, N.M.

In 2009, International Isotopes submitted an application to the NRC, which oversees the nation’s nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities. At the proposed Fluorine Extraction Process and Depleted Uranium Deconversion Plant, depleted uranium hexafluoride will be “deconverted” into fluorine products for commercial sale.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week plans to clean up the largest and highest priority uranium mine on the Navajo Nation. Laurel Morales reports for the Fronteras Changing America Desk.

The Obama Administration released this week its plan to ban new uranium mining on land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park for 20 years. But this may not be the end of the battle. For the Fronteras Changing America Desk Laurel Morales reports from Flagstaff.

The Environmental Protection Agency says they'll be inspecting properties on Acoma Pueblo in western New Mexico for radioactive materials. The assessment is one of numerous being conducted in the southwest, and in Indian Country.

Since 2009, the EPA says they've been doing structural assessments of properties near former uranium mills and mines, including the Navajo Nation, Laguna Pueblo and now Acoma Pueblo.